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Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

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Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#151

Post by rekoros »

I was one of Rdio's first employees (3rd) and have been a happy subscriber since Craig got billing to work. After FB employees got free Rdio, they gave Rdio employees free Rdio as well, but I kept paying—to retain the right to bitch. (I got a free account for my wife though.) My entire extended family have been paying for and swearing by Rdio for years.

I was introduced to Erlang at Rdio (this shaped the future of my career) and worked on the original implementation of the Heavy Rotation feature. I walked around the office asking people "Does this look right? How about this?" I'd upgrade Erlang code in production by hot-reloading the heavy rotation module, and walk around some more. It was fun!

In 2011, I realized that Rdio will never succeed due to lack of fanatical leadership—you can't have a company with absent founders, that's just not how it works—and left. I've been expecting this sort of an "exit" for a while.

Today I work at my own startup (sameroom.io) and every single day I'm grateful for the Rdio experience—mostly as a cautionary tale, unfortunately.

And now, we have to deal with this:

"Are we really going to start using Spotify after so many years of hating on it?" —our 15-year-old.

Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#153

Post by dioltas »

jeremyrwelch wrote: post #116

Rdio made a mistake by trying to compete directly with Spotify. And Pandora is making a huge mistake by shutting down the service and losing a valuable niche group of users. Everyone I know who actually uses Rdio is DIE HARD (I see evidence of this in the comments too). The users I know are pro audio guys, musicians, programmers, artists, etc who use the app 6+ hours a day across desktop and mobile. Rdio could easily…

Yeah, I just switched to rdio and I love it. The interface is so clean and slick. It's a lot less buggy / unreliable than Spotify imo. It's such a pity.

Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#154

Post by JeremyHerrman »

ehmorris wrote: post #124
ehmorris wrote: post #89

Does anyone know a good way of exporting my rdio "history" data? I have years of data in there.

Ah here's a solution: make a cURL request for all your history data. Simple way to get a well formatted request: * Go to the history tab ( http://www.rdio.com/people/username/history/ ) and pull up the inspector * Scroll down once or twice and go to the network tab * Find the `getHistoryForUser` request and right-click it, select "copy as cURL" * Paste into your editor and change the "start" param to 0 and the "count…

Thanks!!

Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#156

Post by tallerholler »

jeremyrwelch wrote: post #132
tallerholler wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ever since I discovered rdio a year or so ago I am always telling friends etc.. I think their UI is superior and the experience is just better than e.g. pandora imo...

Exactly. I've recruited at least 4 friends to use the service. How many hours a day would you estimate you use it?

I listen to it on and off all day at work most days...

Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#157

Post by elg0nz »

jeremyrwelch wrote: post #116

Rdio made a mistake by trying to compete directly with Spotify. And Pandora is making a huge mistake by shutting down the service and losing a valuable niche group of users. Everyone I know who actually uses Rdio is DIE HARD (I see evidence of this in the comments too). The users I know are pro audio guys, musicians, programmers, artists, etc who use the app 6+ hours a day across desktop and mobile. Rdio could easily…

The UI is the best since gasp Winamp. But their networking was terrible. I could never use the app while traveling abroad plus the Mobile streaming was useless to say the least. Yes, I'm an audio purist, but I don't mind sacrificing quality for the convenience of not listening to listening to regular radio payola.

It's sad, a simple buffer implementation would have kept me as a customer, but looks like they focused more on failed Video platforms (did anyone ever use Vdio?)

Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#158

Post by threeseed »

joefkelley wrote: post #93
threeseed wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best is subjective. Google Music is definitely a great music store. For those wanting a social music experience Spotify is the "best". For those wanting curated music and a digital radio experience Apple Music is the "best". For those wanting a hands off service Pandora is the "best".

The last two points are extremely debatable. I have used Google, Spotify, and Pandora, and in my experience, Google's hands-off auto-generated playlists are extremely high quality. They also have great radio/curated playlists via the Songza acquisition. Spotify is a clear winner for a social experience, but I think you're really underestimating Google on the other dimensions.

I don't know about debatable so far as Apple's advantage.

They have radio stations by Dr Dre, Drake, Joshua Homme and countless other musical figures. Not to mention operating Beats 1 24/7 in London, NY, LA. It's pretty impressive (if that's what you're into).

Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#159

Post by mbesto »

rekoros wrote: post #151

I was one of Rdio's first employees (3rd) and have been a happy subscriber since Craig got billing to work. After FB employees got free Rdio, they gave Rdio employees free Rdio as well, but I kept paying—to retain the right to bitch. (I got a free account for my wife though.) My entire extended family have been paying for and swearing by Rdio for years. I was introduced to Erlang at Rdio (this shaped the future of my…

> "Are we really going to start using Spotify after so many years of hating on it?" —our 15-year-old.

Genuinely curious here - why are so many techies desperately passionate (both positive and negative) about choice of unseemly unnecessary tech products? I feel like there is this peculiar subculture of tech-minded folk who defend at odds their tech choices. "Slack is the best" "Hell no, IRC has been around for years!" "Let's fight!" I don't see any rational reason to "hate" on the success of a company or a brand...

Re: Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75M, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service

#160

Post by willtheperson »

mbesto wrote: post #159
rekoros wrote: post #151

I was one of Rdio's first employees (3rd) and have been a happy subscriber since Craig got billing to work. After FB employees got free Rdio, they gave Rdio employees free Rdio as well, but I kept paying—to retain the right to bitch. (I got a free account for my wife though.) My entire extended family have been paying for and swearing by Rdio for years. I was introduced to Erlang at Rdio (this shaped the future of my…

> "Are we really going to start using Spotify after so many years of hating on it?" —our 15-year-old. Genuinely curious here - why are so many techies desperately passionate (both positive and negative) about choice of unseemly unnecessary tech products? I feel like there is this peculiar subculture of tech-minded folk who defend at odds their tech choices. "Slack is the best" "Hell no, IRC has been around for years!…

"I chose X so to validate my choice I will tell you why Z is the worst!"

It happens everywhere. Some get more caught up in it (Video Game console, iPhone / Galaxy, etc.).

Marketing tries to play into this a bit for free promotion. Make you feel intelligent for choosing them and you're part of a club so you'll spread their gospel.

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